[Benjamin]

The Treasury expects the new full State Pension to be boosted above inflation by over £400 a year in cash terms, as a result of the Triple Lock next April.

The internal working calculations seen by the BBC, reflect the near certainty that the state pension will be increased by average earnings figures released next week.

This will take the full state pension for men who have retired since 1951 and women since 1953 to around £12,000 in 2025/26, after the £900 increase last year.

Pre-2016 retirees, who may have been eligible for the secondary state pension, are likely to see at least a £300 a year increase in the basic state pension to £9,000 in 2025/26 under the old system.

The final decision on the uprating will be made by Secretary of State Liz Kendall ahead of the Budget next month, but on Monday Chancellor Rachel Reeves reiterated the government’s backing for the Triple Lock until the end of this Parliament.

The commitment is an expensive election promise made by all the main parties on the £130bn a year state pension bill.

The government has been keen to point to the above inflation generosity of the Triple Lock as a counterweight to its decision to scrap the Winter Fuel Allowance for most households.

Campaigners and opposition parties say not enough is being done to help hundreds of thousands of pensioner households, especially in rural areas, who live below the poverty line, yet will still lose their winter payment.

Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb has calculated 1.6 million older people living below the "poverty line" could be at risk of being stripped of their winter fuel payments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewlqxv0n1qo

[Ammi]

….excellent news and I’m so pleased for you, Ben…that will help your budget a lot…

[Cherie]

The drinks are on BOTs

[bots]

Originally Posted by Cherie

The drinks are on BOTs

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Ammi

….excellent news and I’m so pleased for you, Ben…that will help your budget a lot…

Still many years until I can claim my state pension. They keep putting the age up too so prob won’t get it until I’m 65

[bots]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Still many years until I can claim my state pension. They keep putting the age up too so prob won’t get it until I’m 65

start saving for your heating now is my advice

[UserSince2005]

Granny better get paying me more when i visit her.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Still many years until I can claim my state pension. They keep putting the age up too so prob won’t get it until I’m 65

Pretty sure its going up to 67 soon? so in reality you will probably by 70


This all sounds great but in reality alot off pensioners will be dragged into paying tax

[Livia]

Good. But it still doesn't bring our pensioners up in line with the rest of Europe.

[Cherie]

Thought so

The Pensions Act 2014 brought the increase in the State Pension age from 66 to 67 forward by eight years. The State Pension age for men and women will now increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Ammi

….excellent news and I’m so pleased for you, Ben…that will help your budget a lot…

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Pretty sure its going up to 67 soon? so in reality you will probably by 70


This all sounds great but in reality alot off pensioners will be dragged into paying tax

Yeah and normal pension 57.

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

[smudgie]

Big wow.
Less than £8 a week.
The only reason it’s less than inflation is because the inflation rate is lower than the other two parts of the triple lock.
Chuff all to do with the governments generosity in light of the winter fuel payment being taken away from so many of them.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

[Livia]

Originally Posted by smudgie

Big wow.
Less than £8 a week.
The only reason it’s less than inflation is because the inflation rate is lower than the other two parts of the triple lock.
Chuff all to do with the governments generosity in light of the winter fuel payment being taken away from so many of them.

I think Labour will ensure that this time next year, pensioners will be looking at the triple lock in the rear view mirror. Labour seems to hate the elderly and the working class.

[Beso]

May as well have kept paying the winter fuel payment and kept the pension how it was, like most pensioners would prefer.

Labour sucks.

[Cherie]

The full new state pension may increase to almost £12,000 a year in April 2025. Yet few pensioners will be celebrating as first they have to get through a tough winter.

Thanks to PM Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves, the triple lock hike will be more than wiped out by the money pensioners will lose this winter.

For years, Labour has been attacking the Conservatives for failing to support the poorest in society. That's despite the Tories spending hundreds of billions helping Britons survive pandemic lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis.

Now Labour is in power, it's turning the screw on pensioners.

Reeves' very first act was to strip 10million of their Winter Fuel Payment. It may well be the defining moment of her political career.
The decision will cost pensioners £200 a year, or £300 if they're over 80.

This has triggered a huge backlash from campaigners. I literally gasped out loud when she made the announcement.

I never imagined Reeves would do that. But she did.

And that's not the only way pensioners will be poorer this winter.

Last year, the Conservative government found money to fund a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment worth £150 or £300.

That was on top of the Winter Fuel Payment.

So in total, pensioners got up to £600 more support last year from the Tories than they'll get this year under Labour.

Others will do even worse.

In November 2023, low income pensioners who claimed means-tested top-up Pension Credit got a £300 Cost of Living payment, courtesy of the Tories.

And in February 2024, they got a further £299.

Pension Credit claimants won't get that money this year. They'll still get the Winter Fuel Payment, but will nonetheless be worse off overall. Possibly by as much as £900, given that they've also lost their Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.

As I've said before, if the Tories had dared to strip vulnerable pensioners of vital winter support, there'd have been uproar.

And Labour would have leading the protests.

Now it's Labour who are snatching those benefits away.

It's a real shock for those who believe in the mantra "Tory bad, Labour good".

Now it's more like the other way around.

It's not as if the energy crisis is over. The Ofgem energy price cap will jump by £1,717 from October 1.

That will add an extra £149 to the average gas and electricity bill. It's going to be a long winter for millions of pensioners and April's triple hike will offer little consolation.

Labour has given in on one front, though.

On Monday, it announced that it was extending the Household Support Fund, which offers support of up to £600 for those in financial difficulty.

The Household Support Fund was originally set up by the Conservative government in 2021 to help vulnerable households cover essentials such as clothing, food, and utilities.

Labour has now extended it for six months at a cost of £421million.

However, people don't get the money automatically. They have to apply to their local council which will distribute the money to residents it deems eligible.

The Household Support Fund isn't perfect, but if it wasn't for the Tories, we'd never have it at all. Who are the bad guys now?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/othe...73164c6d&ei=13

[Gusto Brunt]

What pension?

It was 65 a few years ago. Then went to 66 a couple of years ago. Set to go to 67 in two years time. And maybe sooner 68.

At this rate I'll be 85 before I retire. It sucks. The government stealing pension money from elderly people.

Not forgetting they robbed women their pension at 60.

[Quantum Boy]

The state pension is shocking tbh I don't see how anyone could porribly survive on it, realistically you want at least £300k (by today's value adjusted for inflation) in a non-state pot to retire, more than that to be comfortable. State pension is like an extra bonus, I have no idea how people are expected to actually survive on it.

[Quantum Boy]

Originally Posted by Gusto Brunt

What pension?

It was 65 a few years ago. Then went to 66 a couple of years ago. Set to go to 67 in two years time. And maybe sooner 68.

At this rate I'll be 85 before I retire. It sucks. The government stealing pension money from elderly people.

Not forgetting they robbed women their pension at 60.

Its a sham, too - they've based the increasing age on average lifespan not "healthy years" so basically it's because we're getting better at keeping very elderly, very frail people alive a few years longer.

The average person is no more fit to be in work at 66 than they were 30 years ago.

I always say, I'm grateful to be in a field of work (both me and my wife) that doesn't require physical fitness, we can both continue earning into old age (and intend to). Just have to hope my faculties don't start going . Anyone whose line of work requires a physical element is screwed, expecting people to work physically demanding jobs up until 70 (and beyond) is a death sentence.

[Gusto Brunt]

Originally Posted by Quantum Boy

Its a sham, too - they've based the increasing age on average lifespan not "healthy years" so basically it's because we're getting better at keeping very elderly, very frail people alive a few years longer.

The average person is no more fit to be in work at 66 than they were 30 years ago.

I always say, I'm grateful to be in a field of work (both me and my wife) that doesn't require physical fitness, we can both continue earning into old age (and intend to). Just have to hope my faculties don't start going . Anyone whose line of work requires a physical element is screwed, expecting people to work physically demanding jobs up until 70 (and beyond) is a death sentence.

Totally agree. Most people are knackered physically at 65, never mind older.

[Beso]

Originally Posted by Quantum Boy

Its a sham, too - they've based the increasing age on average lifespan not "healthy years" so basically it's because we're getting better at keeping very elderly, very frail people alive a few years longer.

The average person is no more fit to be in work at 66 than they were 30 years ago.

I always say, I'm grateful to be in a field of work (both me and my wife) that doesn't require physical fitness, we can both continue earning into old age (and intend to). Just have to hope my faculties don't start going . Anyone whose line of work requires a physical element is screwed, expecting people to work physically demanding jobs up until 70 (and beyond) is a death sentence.

But then you also know and hear of people who did physical work every day of their working life..they hit retirement and stop working, then boom..dead within a month.

[Quantum Boy]

Originally Posted by Beso

But then you also know and hear of people who did physical work every day of their working life..they hit retirement and stop working, then boom..dead within a month.

True but I think that's more about keeping active and socially engaged, if someone's had a routine their whole life and finds themself suddenly directionless that can have a big impact. Loneliness kills.

[Cherie]

The government basically dont want healthy people retired, they only want you to retire when you are too knackered to enjoy it